Charles l



(No Model.)

C. L. LINCOLN. RAILROAD SWITCH.

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l W/TNESSES.'

i UNrrE -frArEs c. ATENT j 'prima CHARLES L. LINCOLN, OE BROOKLYN, NEWYORK, AssIGNOR OE ONE-HALE To. ROBERT A. DAvisON, OE sAME PLACE.

SRECIFICATON 'forming part of Letters Patent No. 526,978, dated October2, 1894. Application filed September 27, 1893. Seal No. 186.622, (Nomodel.)

To @ZZ whom it may con-cern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES L. LINCOLN, of Brooklyn, in the county ofKings and State of New York, have invented a new and Im'- provedRailroad-Switch, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to improvements in switches and especially such asare used on street railways; and the object of my invention is toproduce a switch which may be very conveniently and easily operated, andwhich has means for holding the switch point or rail steadily inposition without actually locklng it.

A further object of my invention is to construct and arrange the switchrail in reference to a car track in such a manner that it will lienormally in closed position, and wh en opened by mechanism on the carwill be automatically shifted back by contact with the car wheels.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of constructionand combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar figures of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a plan view of the switch with its guide rail and shows theshift wheel of the car mechanism in position on the guide rail and aboutto shiftthe switch rail. Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line 4-4 ofFig.' 1. Fig. 3 is a detail longitudinalsection on the line 4al=a ofFig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a detail plan view of the switch, showing anothermeans of returning it to its normal position.

In Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings I have shown my improvedmechanism as operated by an ordinary street car having a verticallymovable shift wheel or projection 21, and mounted on wheels 11, thesebeing adapted to run on the usual track rails l2, the main line railsbeing shown inthe accompanying drawings in connection with the usualsiding 13. The switch rail 14 is arranged in substantially the usual wayat the junction of the siding 13 and main line 12, and is fulcrumed, asshown at 15, and has a tail piece 16 which extends Well behind thefulcrum, riding on a bed plate 16a made integral with the rails 12 and13, and this tail piece is provided on its upper side with ribs 17 whichare adapted to engage corrugations or grooves 18 in the spring lockingplate19, which plate is secured to the track bed between the rails 12and 13 and is firmly fastened tothe rails. The spring plate 19 pressesdown on the tail piece 16 hard enough tolock the switch rail, but whenthe rail is struck by a car Wheel the tension of the spring plate isovercome, and the rail is moved, the ribs on the spring plate and tailpiece slipping meanwhile over each other. The tail piece 16 is cut awayat its rear end at the point where it is ribbed, so that the top of thespring plate may lie flush with the top of the switch rail.

Parallel with the main track 12 and at a point just in advance of theswitch rail 14, is a grooved guide rail 20, which is adapted to receivethe shift wheel 21, and the guide rail is arranged in relation to theswitch rail so that it will steer the shift wheel to one side of thepoint of the switch rail, so as to swing the rail to one side and openthe switch in order that the car may take the siding. It will beunderstood that there is ashift wheel and means for working it on eachside of the car, so that a switch may be operated in connection with asiding which branches from either side of the track. As the car travelsupon the siding, the wheels, bearing as they do against one side of theswitch rail, will hold the latter in position until the rear wheel isopposite the switch rails when the front wheelzstrikes the tail pieceand the side pressure of this Wheel moves the tail piece and swings theswitch rail back to its normal position, thus leaving-the main lineclear.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that when a switch isapproached and it is desired to take a siding, all that is necessary forthe driver to do is to depress the shift wheel 21, and this causes thelatter to swing the switch rail 14 so that the car wheels 11 will followthe switch rail and carry the car to the siding.

The construction above described is especially intended for roads onwhich single cars are run,but where cars are coupled together,

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means must be provided which will enable the last car to take the switchbefore the switch rail is thrown back. To this end the mechanism shownin Fig. 4 is employed. As here shown the switch 14 is provided with atail piece 16b which may be provided with a locking plate as describedabove and to which is pivoted a bell crank or triangular lever 34, thisbeing fulcrumed at its elbow, as shown at 35, and the third corner ofthe lever is pivoted to a connecting rod 37, which connects with asecondbell crank or triangular lever 38, this being arranged alongside of thetrack 13 and it is fulcrumed at its elbow, as shown at 39, and ispivotally connected with a contact block 40 which slides iinl aslidewayy 41 arranged at the side of the track 13, and the contact blockhas a conoidal face 42 which is adapted tobe engaged by the flange of acar wheel and which, when so engaged is pushed outward, thus tiltingthebell; crank 33, pulling on the rod 37, tilting the bell crank 34, andactuating the tail piece 16b so as to swing the switch rail 14 back toits normal position.

It will be seen that when several cars are coupled together and pass theswitch 14, they will move along the siding without actuating .theswitch. When the Wheel of theirst car Having thus fully described myinvention,

l I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. Thecombination, with the switch rail having the rearwardly extending ribbedtail piece, of the locking plate having' corrugations to engage theribs, substantially as described.

2. The combination,` with the switch rail having a tail piece, asdescribed, of the contact block held to slide at right angles to one ofthe siding rails, vand a lever connection between the: contact block andthe tail piece,

whereby the pressing out of the block act- 5o Witnesses.:

WARREN B. HUTCHINSON, EDGAR TATE.

